Project1 1/15/10 4:02 PM Page 1 Foley: Don’t Bury Windows Yet FEBRUARY 2010 VOL.16 NO.2 REDMONDMAG.COM CRYSTAL 7 powerful predictions for CLEAR Microsoft’s future. Avoid Active+ Directory Disasters Why You Need Windows Server 2008 R2 Project8 7/3/08 12:42 PM Page 1 Project8 7/3/08 12:44 PM Page 2 %" ) %" "' $ $ ! '"% #$"$ &$ '$ %### $ # %$ # " + " # $,* $ " %! $ ## !" $")$ $ $ !$$ %$ %#$") #$"# " # $, "&", #)#$# " " # $ #! !$$ # '" "# "% !($)* ' &" $ #$ !" " !" " $ %#$") $ &"! !"#$! ! $% "#$ ! %)" &$ $$ % !,# $ #! #(# &%&##$ '#$&$ #!$!% ! !,# $ # $)$%$ ! *&# (% ! % $%!# %$ ""%! $!%(# &$ $$ % )% $!%(# $ %## ! + #%$ #$#' $!%(# &$ $$ % )% $!%(# $ %## ! + #%$ #$#' Project1 7/16/09 10:24 AM Page 1 Redmond The Independent Voice of the Microsoft IT CommunityContentsFEBRUARY 2010 REDMOND REPORT COVER STORY 11 Readers Invest in Familiar Crystal Microsoft Apps in 2010 Redmond magazine’s latest survey shows users Clear upgrading long-standing Microsoft offerings, but Here are seven not experimenting with powerful predictions newer technologies. for Microsoft’s future. TIPS & TRICKS Page 32 13 Professor PowerShell Different Yet the Same 13 Windows Advisor Speed Up Your Word 2007 Startup 14 SQL Advisor SQL Compressed Backups FEATURES 39 Avoiding Active Directory Disasters TECHNET Active Directory can crash your whole computing PRACTICAL APP environment if it goes down, but following some tips and performing a few best practices will keep it 23 Using MDT and Single- running smoothly. Instance Storage Learn how to manage and consolidate multiple custom deployment images. 45 Why You Need Windows Server 2008 R2 COLUMNS A host of new features should attract IT 6 Barney’s Rubble: pros to this vastly improved product. Doug Barney Don’t Be Hatin’ 50 Mr. Roboto: Jeff ery Hicks Easy Quota Reporting REVIEWS 52 Security Advisor: Product Reviews Joern Wettern 16 VDI VIP 20 Network Navigator The Problem with VMware’s Virtual Desktop Automation Anywhere Server Disk Encryption Infrastructure is better could use a major boost 56 Foley on Microsoft: than older versions, but not in documentation, but is Mary Jo Foley necessarily appropriate for otherwise a solid network- Don’t Write Windows’ virtualization beginners. automation product. Eulogy Yet ALSO IN THIS ISSUE 4 Redmondmag.com | 8 [email protected] | 55 Ad and Editorial Indexes COVER PHOTO FROM PHOTOSTOCK Redmondmag.com FEBRUARY 2010 RCPmag.com Questions with ... Microsoft’s 2010 Greg Shields Product Roadmap Greg Shields, author of “Avoiding Active Directory Disasters” (p. 39) and xrecent Redmond Channel Partner feature provides all presenter at the upcoming Athe information you need to know about Microsoft’s big releases in 2010. TechNet conference (March Microsoft set the stage for its 2010 releases with several upgrades last 8-12 in Orlando, Fla.) tells us year: Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 R2 and Exchange Server 2010 were a Greg Shields more about the event. few of the enhanced products. Now Redmond is ready to ship key upgrades of Offi ce, SharePoint, BizTalk, What technologies will get lots of SQL Server, the various components of Dynamics and many others. These coverage at TechMentor? products all build on the new versions of Windows, and will work together to Windows PowerShell and virtualiza- enhance your computing environment. tion get big attention this year, but Go to RCPmag.com/Schwartz0210 to read more about the forthcoming our “immediately useable” focus product releases, and be prepared when the time comes for your shop to means attendees will learn about make important purchases. many other topics as well, such as Exchange, SharePoint and security. VisualStudioMagazine.com What will your session cover? The Year of the Cloud I teach on many diff erent topics, from virtualization to RDS, AppLocker to icrosoft’s Windows Azure cloud- BranchCache. Particularly exciting is Mcomputing platform was made available my Best Free Tools session. for production use on Jan. 1 for paying customers. With it, Microsoft hopes to establish a strong foothold in the cloud-computing space. Will attendees get to have face-to- During his Professional Developers Conference 2009 keynote, President of the face interactions with presenters? Server and Tools Business Bob Muglia described Microsoft’s view of the cloud Absolutely—that’s what TechMentor app model: scale out, service oriented, model driven, self service (no human is all about. Our small-group learning intervention), always available, multi-tenant, federated and failure resistant. approach with industry-renowned Read the full article at VisualStudioMagazine.com/0110Richards to fi nd out speakers means everyone gets their more about Windows Azure and how it could change the way you do business questions answered. in the cloud. REDMONDMAG.COM RESOURCES What Are FindIT Codes? What we once called FindIT codes are now Resources Enter FindIT Code easy URLs. You’ll see these embedded >> Daily News News throughout Redmond so you can access any additional information quickly. Simply type >> E-Mail Newsletters Newsletters in Redmondmag.com/ followed by the FindIT >> Free PDFs and Webcasts TechLibrary code into your URL address fi eld. (Note that >> Subscribe/Renew Subscribe all URLs do not have any spaces, and they are >> Your Turn Editor Queries YourTurn not case-sensitive.) Redmondmag.com • RCPmag.com • RedDevNews.com • VisualStudioMagazine.com • VirtualizationReview.com MCPmag.com • CertCities.com • TCPmag.com • ENTmag.com • RedmondEvents.com • ADTmag.com • ESJ.com 4 | February 2010 | Redmond | Redmondmag.com | Project1 9/2/09 8:18 AM Page 1 Smarter technology for a Smarter Planet: Is your information withholding information? Most businesses have a data management strategy. And another. And another. One for every application: ERP, CRM, SCM, HRM, etc. The result is a proliferation of siloed, disjointed data that gets in the way of smart decisions. An Information Agenda from IBM moves you from an application-centric approach to your information toward a more holistic view of your information systems. So you can make use of your data to make decisions faster and with greater confidence – helping you optimize processes, predict market changes and act on new opportunities. Banks can better manage financial risk. Retail companies can spot trends. Manufacturing companies can speed delivery across a complex supply chain. So information works for us, instead of vice versa. A smarter business needs smarter software, systems and services. Let’s build a smarter planet. ibm.com/infoagenda ibm.com/legal/copytrade.shtml. IBM, the IBM logo, ibm.com, Smarter Planet and the planet ibm.com, the IBM logo, IBM, icon are trademarks of International Business Machines Corp., registered in many jurisdictions worldwide. Other product and service names might be trademarks of IBM or other companies.A current list of IBM trademarks is available on atWeb the www. Barney’sRubble by Doug Barney Redmond THE INDEPENDENT VOICE OF THE MICROSOFT IT COMMUNITY REDMONDMAG.COM FEBRUARY 2010 ■ VOL. 16 ■ NO. 2 Editorial Staff Editor in Chief Doug Barney Don’t Be Hatin’ Executive Editor, Features Lee Pender Editor at Large Jeff rey Schwartz Managing Editor Wendy Gonchar Associate Managing Editor Katrina Carrasco Contributing Editors icrosoft executives need thick skins. The critics Mary Jo Foley Jeff ery Hicks aren’t as fi erce as a decade ago, but it’s still no Joern Wettern picnic walking into a cocktail party or computer Art Staff M Art Director Brad Zerbel Senior Graphic Designer Alan Tao show and announcing you’re from Redmond. Sure, plenty Online/Digital Media of folks will pat you on the back, and turning its back on the fundamental Web Editor Gladys Rama maybe even buy you a drink. But in tenets of open source software. Online News Editor Kurt Mackie Executive Editor, New Media Michael Domingo every crowd there are mudslingers, Those behind Boycott Novell take Director, Online Media Becky Nagel muckrakers and nitpickers. Bill O’Reilly, particular delight in lambasting Bill Site Administrator Shane Lee Nancy Pelosi and Steve Ballmer all know Gates. They claim that not only is he a Designer Rodrigo Muñoz what I’m talking about. software monopolist, but that the Bill & I see this attitude fi rst hand. About Melinda Gates Foundation is designed two years ago I called a business writer to monopolize the food and drug indus- President Henry Allain to talk about a job with Redmond maga- tries and take control of Africa. That’s Vice President, Publishing Matt Morollo zine. This clown wouldn’t even come right. And George Bush took down Vice President, Editorial Director Doug Barney Director, Marketing Michele Imgrund in for an interview—he said he’d be too the Twin Towers, Hillary Clinton is Online Marketing Director Tracy Cook embarrassed to tell his friends he wrote a shape-shifting reptile, and the New about Microsoft. World Order controls As an independent everything. (Actually, journalist I’m often I think it’s Google that President & Neal Vitale caught in the middle. controls everything.) Chief Executive Offi cer Senior Vice President & Richard Vitale Many claim I’m a card- Then there are old Chief Financial Offi cer carrying member of standbys: dozens of Web Executive Vice President Michael J. Valenti the Microsoft polit- sites dedicated to simply Vice President, Finance & Christopher M. Coates Administration buro, a simple apologist hating Microsoft for Vice President, Digital Media, Abraham M. Langer